 | “Born and bred in New Zealand, Neil Dawson is a sculptor of international standing. All of Dawson’s works emphatically echo aspects of this nation’s socio-cultural environments and, literally, elevate these in spatial celebrations that are at once accessible and challenging. A central achievement discernable in this sculptor’s work is his ability to embody in pure space, clusters of socio-cultural and global concerns.”(1)
Since Neil Dawson’s earliest installation Seascape, in 1979 for the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, he has established himself as an innovative sculptor of international repute. Dawson is perhaps best known for his large-scale suspended spheres and globes. In 1989, he created his first suspended sphere, Globe, for the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at Paris' Pompidou Centre. Dawson has produced major site-specific sculptures in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Asia.
Neil describes his work as "an obsession, like it is for the majority of artists," adding that he "continue[s] to be excited by new projects." In the 1998 catalogue for Ferns, Jim and Mary Barr say his work offers a "multiplicity of views that people can create for themselves as they move beneath or around his sculptures," emphasising that while "Dawson has used the interplay of the constant and the serendipitous in many of his works, in the spheres the combination has proved inspiring." (2)
Among the more recent commissions have been Feathers and Skies in 2000 for Stadium Australia and Chalice in 2001 for Cathedral Square, Christchurch. In 2005 he unveiled his Bomber Command war memorial sculpture in Canberra, Australia.
Born in Christchurch 1948, Diploma of Fine Arts (Hons), Canterbury University 1970 and Graduate Diploma in Sculpture, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne 1973. Dawson was awarded an Arts Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand in 2003. In August 2005 he unveiled his Bomber Command war memorial sculpture Canberra, Australia.
(1) Dr Cassandra Fusco, Ways of seeing presence and absence – The work of Neil Dawson, Crafts Arts International No. 58, 2003
(2) The Arts Foundation of New Zealand, 2003 | |
